Re: HOW MANY LOOPS DO YOU USE SIMLUTANEOUSLY?

[<mech@m3ch.net>]

At 3:33 AM -0700 3/29/08, Rick Walker wrote:
>
> How many loops do us use simultaneously?
> And why?

Two answers (of course, nothing's ever simple with me, is it?)

1.) For live improvisational performance on the Looperlative, generally no 
more than 5. 

Why?  Well, because I'm an idiot, quite frankly. 

I've found that if I start trying to keep up with more than 5 loops, I 
tend to begin getting confused about 
what loop has which content doing what.  I may also have one or more loops 
which are "bounces" (loops sent 
out to an external processor -- like a pitch shifter -- then re-recorded 
onto another track).  So I may have 
one track which is the original loop and then another that is the exact 
same loop only effected and mixed 
back in. 

Given such circumstances, it's relatively easy to get caught in the middle 
of a performance with "now where 
the hell am I?!?" syndrome.  This is especially true during my live 
performances since, as those of you who 
saw my Y2k7 set can attest, I have always suffered from extreme 
stage-fright that borders on the debilitating.

2.) For my "Live Looping as Synthesis" project (which has been on hiatus 
and which I need to get back to), 
I'll generally use somewhere between 20-100 simultaneous loops/layers.  
(and this is one reason i'm always 
bugging bob to add an 'undo' function to the lp-1. ;)

Why so many?  Because when I do this, it's actually using the loop as a 
form of Additive Synthesis.  I'm 
layering the same musical line over and over (and over and over) again 
using different sine wave harmonics.  
The first loop is generally recorded with a sine wave tuned to the primary 
harmonic (or tonic).  The second 
loop is an overdub of the same musical content, but is played using the 
2nd harmonic.  The third is a 
recording for the 3rd harmonic, then the 4th, etc., etc.  Things start to 
get interesting around the 10th or 
20th harmonic, and depending upon how complex/cacophonous a sound I'm 
after, I can keep going.  Errr well, 
unless I blow an overdub, in which case it can get sticky.

I guess this could also be considered a single loop with 50 or 60 
overdubs, but I think that's just splitting 
hairs over terminology.

        --m.
_____
"I want to keep you alive so there is always the possibility of murder... 
later"